


Partnership

by Collectible



Series: All in the Life [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Gen, Generationshipping, but more obvious is, platonic Trickboxshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 17:04:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8808847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Collectible/pseuds/Collectible
Summary: #1 -- Winter festivals make for fun trips.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was for YGOTP Week 1, but then I realized they only accepted romantic ships, so... this wouldn't work lol.
> 
> Generationshipping is (as I call it): Yuuri/Serena/Dennis/Sora/Asuka/Edo/Gloria/Grace, but it's all platonic.
> 
> And... I'm 90% sure Japanese festivals aren't really like this. Rip.

“All right, done!”

Dropping his hand its hovering position in the air, Dennis unclenched his fingers to reveal a single thin stick. As if pulling his attention like a fish on a baited hook, his gaze lowered to the tip, landing on a dried, fiery red swipe from a marker.

“Red!” he announced, flicking the stick up to display his color to the others. “So, who is my festival partner?”

The three of them shared an undecipherable look, but one after another they showed their sticks. Dennis scanned the bottoms, searching for the same red to match his own, and--

“Oh, Sora!” There it was--the bottom of his stick matched Dennis’ perfectly. “Looks like we’ll be attending the festival together, huh?”

“Looks like it…” Rolling the stick around in his hand, Sora gave Dennis a beaming smile reminiscent to his own. “Sounds like fun! I saw some stalls that sold a bunch of snacks too, so we can head over there first--”

A sudden irritated curse courtesy of Serena made Sora pause.

She still held her stick out for them to see, which had green at the bottom. Her previous blank expression when showing her hand had faded with the current disgruntled furrowing of her eyebrows.

Serena frowned when they turned to look at her, like she hadn’t cursed under her breath. “What is it?”

“Language,” Yuuri chided. In his hand was the last stick, green at the end as well.

Realization dawned on him like a bolt of lightning.

“Looks like Serena and Yuuri are festival buddies too,” Dennis observed. His smile dimmed. Whoops. He hadn’t considered what the two of them would end up doing if they became partners. Now they _were_ partners, and Dennis should have thought this through.

Sora frowned up at the both of them, the dark blue moon-and-stars littered scarf he borrowed from Serena dwarfing his shoulders. His ears were steadily growing a bright red in the cool air, but he generally grew colder faster than the rest of them; Dennis himself hardly required a thin jacket in this weather. “You two aren’t going to start something in the middle of a festival, are you? Can’t you wait until we reach campus before you get in another cat fight?”

Thanks, Sora.

Two stony glares darted his way, showing little to no amusement. Stepping forward, Dennis raised his hands in front of his chest, making the same placating gesture they’ve should've grown used to seeing.

“Okay, okay. Sora, stop antagonizing them,” he scolded, and Sora pouted. Focusing on the actual problem at hand, he continued, “And you two, today is supposed to be fun! Do you want to ruin a nice day out by fighting and getting yourselves kicked out?”

When Yuuri opened his mouth, probably to say something positive about getting kicked out, Serena cut in before he could speak. “We won’t get kicked out. If I have to, I'll leave him. Then there won’t be an issue.”

Well… that was true in a way, but--

“Serena--”

“Come on!” With a heavy huff, Sora reached forward and gripped his sleeve. Despite his short stature and seemingly weak appearance, he managed to successfully drag Dennis over to his side. “We don’t have time to wait around. Serena, Yuuri--don’t do anything to endanger the public. Dennis and I are going to have fun at this festival until it’s time to meet up at… Uh…”

Dennis supplemented, “This spot at six o’ clock.”

“This spot at six o’ clock! So two hours. Okay? All clear?” He scanned their faces as if searching for disagreements. Upon finding nothing, he nodded. “All right, then break! I have--I mean, Dennis and I have things to do. Let’s go, go, go!”

That said, Sora tugged on his sleeve again, pulling him off to the west side of the festival where he was sure a cluster of food booths took up shop.

Over his shoulder, Dennis concluded their meeting with, “Have fun!”

“Don’t kill each other!” was Sora’s final words to them, and then they were moving further into the loose crowd of festival-goers.

 

O-o-o-O

 

In actuality, Sora had brought up the festival in the first place. During their lunch break, when they were able to relax and gather at their chosen table in the cafeteria, he’d finished off his meal (four strawberry yogurts and sweets he kept hidden on his person) and asked, “Who knows about the festival going on Friday?”

After a moment of consideration, Asuka lowered her fork from her mouth and raised her hand. “It's a one-day festival. The flyers I saw around town said it was to celebrate the creation of a few boats setting sail in a few days.”

“The festival is to celebrate boats?” Head resting on her hand, Gloria narrowed her eyes at nothing. “That sounds about as boring as having a festival to celebrate a new greenhouse. Or animal shelter.”

At the obvious insult to their respective hobbies, Yuuri and Serena broke from their grumblings toward each other to shoot her unimpressed looks. Smiling, Gloria waved at them, and Grace snickered behind her.

“It sounds fine for a festival,” Edo said. With his eyes locked on to the book settled on the table, Dennis didn’t believe he was actually paying attention until he flicked his gaze up to focus on Sora. “Why, Sora? Do you have something in mind?”

Sora snorted, because of course he had something in mind. “I brought it up for a reason, you know. How about it, then? Let’s go to the festival on Friday! Food, games, a fun time--”

In unison, the older four of their group interrupted: “Pass.”

Sora’s mouth was still open from listing the perks of the festival. He shut it with a click, and a pout followed. “Ehhh? What, why? It’s a festival!”

“I have things to do,” was Edo’s quick reply.

More tactful, Asuka offered him an apologetic smile. “I have something that I actually have to do; it’s Fubuki-niisan’s birthday on Friday, so…”

“Wish him happy birthday for us,” Dennis said, and she hummed to show she’d heard.

“Fine, that’s a good enough reason.... Gloria? Grace?” Sora squinted suspiciously at them, leaning forward over his empty yogurt cups. “Any good reason to not come?”

Gloria shrugged. “It sounds boring. And Grace can’t handle cold weather.”

Her sister nodded along to her explanation, so they had no choice to take it as truth. Although the countless memories of times she'd handled wintry weather better than them all appeared in Dennis' mind. But, okay, whatever.

Plopping back down in his seat, Sora crossed his arms, increasing his pout tenfold. “So four of you have backed out . What about the rest of you, then? Gonna go do something else while I head there alone? If I can get there alone--it takes a half hour to get there by car, and I’m _thirteen_ , so--”

“Sora.” To calm him down, Dennis lightly patted his shoulder. “The rest of us are coming. We’ll head down there together.”

“... Oh.”

And that had been the whole conversation.

 

O-o-o-O

 

“So,” Dennis started, idly blowing on his stick of ikayaki as they sat on the side of an unknowing vendor’s stall. The heat wafting off it warmed his face from the cool, light breeze. “Did you make us come here to eat food?”

“What?” Taking a bite out of his own grilled squid, Sora faced him with surprised eyes. “No. What made you think that?”

He lowered his eyes to the trash sitting around them. A full bag of watame, two sticks that held takoyaki and yakitori each, and three sticks of shioyaki. Not to mention the food he’s already eaten--the grilled caramel he’s gone back three times for and the few handfuls bebi kasutera.

“I'm guessing,” he said instead, and Sora raised his other hand to take a massive bite out of his choco banana. Dennis imagined his wallet becoming emptier the longer the night went on. He held in a sigh. “I’ll go broke before the first hour is over, Sora. Don’t you have your own money?”

“No.”

That made so much sense.

“Can you stop eating for five minutes, then?”

“You’re the one who said _‘Don’t worry, Sora_! _I’ll pay for your food_!’” He deepened his voice to mimic his, and Dennis frowned as his false voice sounded chipper and naive. He’d meant to pay for three or four snacks, not an unhealthy meal. “And then you paid for all my food. As well as your own.”

He gestured with his choco banana to Dennis' two plates of okonomiyaki, raising an eyebrow at him afterward.

“Okonomiyaki is great,” he defended. Sora snorted and shook his head.

“No, it isn’t.”

“It is.”

“It’s bad, Dennis.”

“ _You’re_ bad, Sora.”

“I’m _super_ bad. See?” Opening his mouth wide, he finished off his choco banana in one bite. Sora winked playfully and dropped the stick to the ground to let it rest in the trash pile at their feet. “Pass me your ikayaki, would you? ‘Cause you aren’t eating it.”

He rolled his eyes at his friend’s bottomless stomach, but regardless he did as asked. He wasn't hungry anyway; the okonomiyaki had filled him up enough to last the rest of the festival.

With the two sticks of squid in his hands, Sora took turns devouring each one until the heads were left. Once he swallowed them down, he released them into the growing pile of litter and breathed out a sigh.

“Tired?” Dennis asked, transferring his gaze between him and the rest of the festival attenders. Some wandered up to the watame booth they rested on the side of, and seconds later they were gone with one or two bags.

“Still hungry,” Sora replied, and his eyebrow twitched. “But we can move on from food now. I guess.”

That was all he needed to hear.

Dennis had pushed to his feet before his friend finished speaking. “Finally.” Some stalls had caught his attention when Sora dragged him throughout the west side of the festival. One of them should be close--a regular ring toss game.

Stepping out from their niche--which made the vendor jump at his unexpected appearance--Dennis scanned the surrounding stalls. More focused on food, which he hoped didn't bring Sora to take back his desire to move on from eating, but further up the smooth cobblestone path was a booth that fit his requirements.

Covered wall to wall in a multitude of stuffed animals, and several were lanky enough to match his height. A medium-sized animal hanging off the outer wall forced him to squint to better see it--a rabbit, it seemed. Half the size of him, too.

For a short moment, he returned to their niche and gathered up the litter they’d dropped without a care. A trash can sat nearby, so upon dumping everything there before returning to his curious-looking friend.

He pointed right to the stall. “Follow me, Sora." Then he strode toward the ring toss booth with an unspoken purpose and hop in his step.

Previous players were leaving when he reached the stall, and Dennis took a better look around. Up close, the rabbit he’d eyed up had gray fur, stiff and sharp as straws of hay, and its beady black eyes bulged out of its face. It was smaller, too, at a proper distance. If stood up, it would reach his waist. Which didn't disappoint him in the least--he wasn't winning it for himself, after all.

Dennis gestured to it when Sora stopped at his side. When they both gazed at the stuffed animal, he asked outright, “Do you want that? Or any of them? I'll win one for you!”

“For real?” He squinted at the plush before taking in the others; dogs, cats, fish. For a festival to celebrate boats, there sure were a lack of anything boat-related. “It does look cute… but rabbits are more of a Serena thing .”

Hand already raised to call the attendee over, Dennis hummed. “Get it for her, then? Although she might prefer the cat. You sure you don't want one? Trust me, I can get both.”

“Aren't these games rigged, though? What's the point?” The attendee collecting Dennis’ money and providing him with the necessary five rings glanced down to him with a raised eyebrow. Sora flushed a light red. “Ah… I mean, Dennis, you actually think you can get both of them?”

He nodded cheerfully, not doubting his skill in the least. “Of course! It'll be easy.”

“Right…”

It wouldn't take forever, either. He simply had to zoom in on a bottle, pull his arm a few inches back for the toss, and then throw it in the right direction.

“And--” Tossing the ring to a bottle at the back of the lineup, it clinked against the side, flipped into the air in a wild spin… and fell, neatly encircling the bottle neck he'd hoped for and earning Dennis one point. “One down! Four more to go. Or nine, more like.”

“Right.” Sora’s words came out as a murmur, his eyes locked on the ring and bottle. “Huh. I guess I’m getting a stuffed animal today.”

The second ring went flying from Dennis’ hand. Like its predecessor, it flicked up into the air, did a spinning show, and settled around the bottle neck as if it were planned.

“Eight more!” he cheered. “Let’s keep this going, huh?”

And to neither’s surprise, Dennis successfully landed each and every one.

 

O-o-o-O

 

A groan erupted out of Sora’s throat like a fire engine; long and obnoxiously loud. “Why are they so _late_?”

“Maybe they got lost?” Inspecting the faces of passersby as they exited the festival or meandered past them, Dennis frowned upon finding strangers. Where did those two go...? “The festival isn’t big, but it is Yuuri and Serena. I lost them at the mall before. Well, I didn’t lose them--they walked outside because Yuuri got bored and wandered off, and Serena kept following him. But it’s the same.”

To the right of him, sitting in the way of everyone walking past, Sora snorted from his place on the ground. His newly-won gray rabbit--which was somewhat shorter than him--laid across his legs like a resting animal. “Sounds like he just wanted to leave you at the mall, Dennis. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Neither would he, actually. Yuuri was--well, _Yuuri_ , so he’d do anything if it had the ability to irritate someone. Even if that someone had offered to buy him clothes and food with no consequence.

Dennis sighed, squeezing Serena’s gift--the fluffy white cat plush from the booth--in his hand. He should stop throwing his money around.

“Is that them? Oh, it is!”

Huh? He saw them?

Snapping his head up, he turned to face where Sora was wildly waving his arms. Amidst the back of the loose crowd, if he squinted he could make out the bright yellow indicating the ribbon tying Serena’s hair back into a ponytail. Several steps closer, the group in front of them scattered further apart to show her and Yuuri casually strolling toward them. With…

Sora barked out a confused laugh. “Why do they--?”

In both of their arms, close to toppling to the ground due to their abundance, were numerous stuffed animals. The closer Serena and Yuuri got, the more the animals stood out. Several dogs, cats, and he even caught a small frog resting on Serena’s shoulder because she had no more space to place it in her arms.

Had they… won them all?

“Those two,” sighed Sora as uncrossed his legs to stand up, and Dennis completely understood the words left unsaid. “And now Yuuri won’t accept my rabbit if he already has them. Guess I’ll have to keep it...”

He paused, scrunching his face up. “Eh? What? I won the rabbit for you!”

“You also bought a ton of food for me, too,” he grumbled, rather ungratefully in Dennis’ eyes. “Besides, you won something for Serena. Yuuri has nothing. So if I give this to him and he likes it, I’ll earn a few points.”

“Wh--?” What _points_? “Points for _what_?”

“Don’t worry about it. Look, they’re here already--hey!” Luckily for him, the rest of their group actually had come into hearing distance. Sora resorted back to waving at them while Dennis wrapped his head around the strange concept of earning _points_. “Looks like you two didn’t kill each other. And you must have played a load of games, huh?”

Serena nodded. The frog slid a little off her shoulder. “I won the competition.”

“Don’t lie.” Shifting his arms to pull his own animals to his chest, Yuuri smiled proudly. “I won the competition. I have the most animals, after all.”

“I have the most animals.”

“Can’t you count? If you look at mine--”

“You threw my fish away. He counted.”

“ _It_ is not a stuffed animal, and I gave a lonely child a much needed pet.”

Without a pause, Serena grabbed one of the dogs in her arms and hurled it right at Yuuri’s face. He rocked back on his heels at the last second and the stuffed toy went sailing past to the opposite side of the pathway.

“You’re down one now,” Yuuri smugly pointed out. “Now my win is more obvious, isn’t it?”

“All right you two.” At last, he managed to get a word in to stop their unnecessary bickering and potential fight starter. “Everything’s for fun here! Don't turn it into a competition.”

In unison, they retorted like a pair of unnatural twins, “Don't tell me what to do.”

Dennis sighed. _Those two_ …

“ _Anyway_ ,” he stressed, rotating to face the entrance of the festival. “We're finished here? We can go?”

Unanimous agreement came from them in a long string of yeses.

“All right! And--here, first of all.” Dennis found a niche in the bundle of stuffed animals Serena carried and carefully, cautiously placed his gift inside it.

She tilted her head, inspecting the cat upside down. The frog toppled upside-down onto the cat's head. “Thank you, Dennis. It’s cute.”

“Right? I won it for you at ring toss!”

“Oh, did you?” Yuuri side eyed the plush. Judging by the crooked smile stuck to his face, he didn't share Serena’s sentiment. “I didn't know you liked her so much, Dennis. Why not ask her out?”

Speeding right past the tease, Dennis said, “Don't you have a gift for Yuuri, Sora? Sounds like he wants one.” Even if he was the one who actually got it...

“Uh?” He shot him a quick look, which Dennis ignored. When Sora turned back to Yuuri, the locked-on stare slowly colored his cheeks red. Raising the rabbit in the air, he held it out for him to take while thumbing his borrowed scarf. “Right… here you go?”

The inspection of the rabbit lasted no more than ten seconds. As time ticked on, Sora took to shuffling on his feet; back and forth, left and right.

Finished with his inspection, Yuuri lowered his gaze from the rabbit. He motioned his head to his smaller animals. “I have too much to carry, so you can hold it until we return to school. It looks odd... but I'll accept it. Thanks.”

A pause, then Sora lowered the rabbit. “No problem, Yuuri.”

And now that that was out of the way--

“Now we can leave!” Dennis decided promptly.

Finally.

He considered the remainder of money left in his wallet. He had enough for a trip for one person, but… “I don’t have enough for all four of us to get home. If Edo’s unblocked us, we can call him for a ride--”

“I’m blocked,” Yuuri interrupted.

Serena announced, “Same here.”

“I’m never _not_ blocked.” Sora sounded unnecessarily smug.

… And Dennis had checked an hour ago just in case. His call hadn’t gone through.

Great.

He smiled nervously at his friends. “... We can pool everything together? Please tell me you have money.”

Yuuri and Serena gave pointed glanced down to their animals.

Right...

It was going to be a long trip back to campus.


End file.
